Here it is, the next episode. Enjoy and please let me know what you think about the story so far.
EPISODE 5: DIPLOMATIC ORDERS
Captain's log stardate 91656.8. We are on our way to Vulcan to pick up Ambassador Sokketh who is travelling from his home world to P'Jem system. Our orders are to make sure he gets there safely, because capturing him would be a major coup for the Klingons or Orions.
"Captain, we have arrived at the Vulcan system. I took the liberty of contacting Ambassador's aide when we arrived. T'Pela says that the Ambassador has certain arrangements that he prefers when travelling. She would like to go over them with you, sir," T'Vrell informed.
"Very well, put her on the main screen," the Captain said.
"Greetings, Captain Dalis," T'Pela told once the view screen turned on, "Ambassador Sokketh is currently attending a ritual to honor the end of the Kal Rekk holiday. He will be done soon, but the Ambassador is… hesitant to use transporter technology. His bias against the transporters is not logical, but I have come to accept it. I believe that Sokketh would be much more comfortable traveling to the Altair by shuttlecraft. You have clearance to land near the Ambassador's location," she finished and ceased the comm.
"Nice people those Vulcans," Lyzara said with only a small hint of sarcasm and continued:
"Elisa, join me in the shuttlebay, T'Vrell, you have the bridge." Lyzara finished as she and Elisa entered the turbolift.
"Finally a nice peaceful diplomatic mission. I've been quite looking forward to it," Elisa said to the Captain. She smiled and answered:
"Well, let's hope it stays that way. By the way, how was the pool game last night?"
"It was… a game. We're all quite rusty, but we're getting better. You could join us some time, sir"
"Mmm… maybe one day." Lyzara said and they entered the shuttlebay where a shuttle was already ready to depart.
"Starfleet shuttlecraft, this is Vulcan orbital control," a female voice sounded through the comm as they entered the atmosphere of Vulcan homeworld.
"You are cleared to land at the requested coordinates," the voice continued and they could already distinguish the red rocks of the desert planet. Several mountains could be seen far beyond. They landed on a small landing pad near a Vulcan temple.
"Captain, the Ambassador and his aide are waiting for us at the top of this rise. We can speak to them and find out if the Ambassador needs anything else from us before we depart to P'Jem;" Elisa reported when they had landed and pointed toward the location of the Ambassador.
"It is a nice day for a walk," Lyzara said and both of them started going up the hillside. Beside the trail stood some Vulcan columns that looked quite old and were made of the same red-colored stone they had seen when they landed. All around them was desert sand and a few plants were growing here and there. When they finally reached the hilltop, there was a round Pavilion that looked a bit like Stonehenge on Earth, but was much better preserved because of the dry climate. It was also made of the same red stone, but there were also reliefs around each column.
"Welcome to Vulcan, Captain," Ambassador Sokketh said as soon as he noticed them. He was an older Vulcan with dark hair and traditional Vulcan haircut.
"Thank you very much," Lyzara answered, "Could you tell me about P'Jem?"
"P'Jem is a small world near Andoria. It is sacred to our people. There have been Vulcans on P'Jem for centuries, although in Earth year 2152, the ancient buildings that housed our monastery were destroyed by the Andorians," he said. His voice was calm and pleasant and he continued the history lesson.
"It was a failing in our logic that led to conflict with the Andorians. After the Federation was founded, a group of Andorians, Vulcans and Humans rebuilt the monastery as a symbol of peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Since then, a group of monks has lived there. They study the ideals of Surak." Lyzara nodded knowingly. The incident of P'Jem had been a subject in a history lesson at the Academy. There had been a Vulcan listening station there that was monitoring Andorian communications. Naturally, the Andorians were not thrilled about that so they attacked the monastery.
"What business do you have at P'Jem," Lyzara asked instead of proceeding with the inquiry of the history of P'Jem.
"My business is my own," the Ambassador answered sulkily, "If you must know more, I require a meeting with the abbot. He will not use subspace communications so if I am to receive his counsel I need to meet with him directly."
"So, Ambassador, are you ready to leave," the Captain enquired. Sokketh chose to ignore her question and said instead quite heartedly: "This is ridiculous! Access to P'Jem is strictly limited to preserve the sanctity of the monastery. No outsiders are permitted to land without the express permission of Savin, the leader of the order that maintains the planet. Ordinarily this would not present any difficulty, but Savin has chosen this moment to illogically question my visiting the monastery. He is refusing to grant leave for me to meet with the abbot of P'Jem," Lyzara was starting to wonder if the Ambassador was really a pure-blooded Vulcan or if he had any Human ancestry, but the Ambassador continued before she could finish her thought.
"If I do not complete my journey to P'Jem now, I will have to delay it until the trade conference at Coridan is complete. And that could take weeks. I fear I have spent too much time off world. While I find it easy to deal with others, my own people can be… stubborn. Perhaps you could speak to Savin. I know he has a great respect for Starfleet, and you might have an easier time than I have," he finished and turned his back to Lyzara.
"I will talk to him," the Captain said and left the Ambassador. As they were out of his earshot, Elisa, who had remained silent for a while, said:
"The Vulcans have weird eccentricities, one of them doesn't use transporters, the other one refuses to communicate by subspace…"
"People are different," Lyzara answered simply.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Elisa stated and Lyzara smirked. The officers walked to the other side of the Pavilion, where Savin was sitting on a bench and reading a book.
"Peace and long life," he said as they approached him and lifted his eyes off the pages. Lyzara nodded as a greeting and answered:
"I'm Captain Lyzara Dalis,"
"Yes, I know who you are," Savin interrupted her before she could continue. "Is there something you need?"
Elisa was quiet again and let the Captain do the talking – Lyzara had always been good at it. "Ambassador Sokketh, informed me that you do not allow him to visit the monastery of P'Jem, is there any way I can persuade you to change your mind?" the Captain asked politely.
"I will permit it if you pledge to me, on your honor as Starfleet officer, that you will protect P'Jem from harm. Sokketh says that his reasons for wanting to speak to the abbot are private. I will accept that, but only if you are with him. I know I can trust Starfleet," Savin told and looked into her eyes, his look pierced right through her so calm well-kept poker-face.
"I give you my word, a word of a Starfleet Captain," Lyzara answered him. He ceased his stare and turned his eyes back toward the book lying on his knees. Lyzara took it as a sign of being dismissed and turned around to deliver the message to Ambassador Sokketh. As they walked back towards the Ambassador, Elisa was finally able to gather herself enough to say:
"Wow, he was creepy" She was especially emphasizing on the word 'creepy'.
"How did you stay so calm?" she continued.
"I told him the truth. There's nothing to be afraid of when telling the truth," the Captain answered as she was pointing out the common knowledge: the first duty of a Starfleet officer is to the truth. Elisa had nothing to respond to that and they remained quiet for the remainder of the walk. Since it wasn't a very long way to go, they soon arrived at Ambassador Sokketh, who was eagerly – or Vulcan equivalent of eagerly – waiting for them.
"Do you have any news?" he asked as soon as they reached him.
"Yes, I've spoken to Savin. We can leave for P'Jem now."
"Excellent. Our departure has been delayed long enough by the whims of one man. I am prepared for the journey and can leave immediately," Sokketh sounded quite pleased with the outcome.
"Let's go then, Ambassador," Lyzara said and she and Elisa slowly started walking down the hill as Sokketh quickly gave his aide some last minute instructions and joined them. Then they walked back along alley of ancient Vulcan columns towards the shuttle in the valley.
"Potter, set course for P'Jem system, warp four," Lyzara ordered once she and Elisa were on the bridge and Sokketh had retired to his quarters to meditate.
"I'll be in my ready room. Elisa, you have the bridge," she added and left the bridge through one of the doors. Altair's bridge was mostly colored in warm orange and yellow tones with a faint hint of red near the doors. There were two doors on the bridge: one near the front of the bridge leading into the captain's ready room and the other at the back, leading into the turbolift. In the middle stood three chairs on a slightly higher platform than the rest of the room. The middle and the most comfortable one for the captain (It was rumored to be the most comfortable chair on the ship), at captain's right hand a chair for the first officer and on captain's left hand a free chair for whoever was visiting or currently needed on the bridge additionally to the bridge crew. Facing the view screen in front of the bridge were the pilot's seat and the tactical station, where M'Rew sat. At the both sides of the bridge were two more consoles: one for the science and communications officer T'Vrell – on the left – and the other for the security officer Njahla – on the right. On the back of the bridge was also the engineering and operations console, which was usually manned by a junior officer, except for those rare times that Thel wasn't spending in the engineering. There were more LCARS consoles on the walls and the bridge was quite well-lit.
"Enter," Lyzara said when someone rang her doorbell at the ready room. Much to her surprise, M'Rew walked in. She had just been cozily sitting on the couch, reading one of the reports and looking at the fish swimming around in their tank on the wall – what was it with the captains and their fish?
"Oh, M'Rew," Lyzara said and made room for him to sit beside her on the sofa. He politely thanked her and then asked: "How are you doing?" Lyzara looked quite puzzled and wondered what he had meant by that. She finally decided to answer:
"I'm doing quite fine, thank you."
"That's not what I meant. How are YOU doing?" he corrected himself and leaned a bit closer to the captain. Lyzara thought she could see sincere concern in his eyes. She leaned against the back of the couch, took a deep breath and said:
"Day by day. I never expected to become a captain so soon. I don't think I'm really ready for this. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that frankly I'm getting more and more worried about you, we all are. You should go out more, at least go to the ship's lounge and spend time with people instead of the reports. If not for yourself then for the sake of this crew. We need you," He told and rose from the sofa.
"I should report back to my post, but think about what I said."
"I will, thank you," Lyzara answered and M'Rew left the room. The Captain stood up and placed the report on her desk. She looked out of the window; the warp field surrounding the ship looked like hundreds of stars slipping by them as they drew lines of light into the darkness of space.
"Captain, we're entering the P'Jem system," Elisa said through the comm.
"Thank you," she answered and made her way to the bridge, "Please inform Ambassador Sokketh of our arrival," she told Elisa and sat down into her chair. Elisa nodded.
"Captain, I am picking up unusual energy readings in this system, I suggest we scan before taking the Ambassador to the surface," T'Vrell informed.
"Do it," Lyzara said as Ambassador Sokketh entered the bridge.
"What is the matter?" he asked and proceeded to walk to the chair next to the Captain. He didn't sit.
"We picked up some unusual energy readings upon entering…" Lyzara answered, but couldn't finish the sentence as M'Rew announced:
"Klingon ships decloaking, sir!"
"We are being hailed, putting them onscreen," T'Vrell said.
"You have a foul shape changer aboard your ship. Turn the over to us or we will destroy you!" The Klingon Captain said fiercely.
"Do you have any proof of these accusations?" Lyzara asked him.
"Do you doubt my word? Insult my honor? I have killed men for less! I have nothing to prove to the likes of you! Turn that so-called 'ambassador' over to me now or face the consequences!" the Klingon answered and two Birds-of-prey locked their weapons on the Altair. Before Lyzara could say anything, the Klingons ceased the communication and opened fire. M'Rew had raised the shields as soon as the Klingon ships decloaked and the first volley of the Klingon dual cannons clashed against the Altair's fore shields, ripping them down to seventy percent.
"Bring us broadside and return fire," Lyzara ordered and the ship turned to hit the birds-of-prey with both fore and aft phasers. As the shields of one Klingon ship were weakened enough, M'Rew fired a photon torpedo right into the hull of the ship which was enough to destroy it. The other bird-of-prey quickly cloaked to avoid its companion's fate. For several seconds, everyone on the bridge was staring quietly at the sensor readings, wondering, where the Klingons would decloak. M'Rew had his hands – not paws – on the buttons to fire as soon as the ship showed itself. The silence was tensing. Then, the Klingon ship appeared right in front of the Altair and fired a volley of torpedoes at the Starfleet ship. Potter quickly took evasive action and several torpedoes missed, but three were able to completely bring down the forward shields and draw wide scratches into the ship's armor. As the Bird-of-Prey was recloaking to come around for another pass, there was a moment when the Klingon ship's shields were down and the cloak hadn't engaged yet. M'Rew lost no time and fired right before the ship cloaked. It was a direct hit to its port engine and the ship went up in flames.
"Damage report!" Lyzara ordered a moment later.
"Our fore shields are completely down and starboard shields are at fifty percent. Emergency force fields are in place, no causalities," Thel gave her a quick overview.
"Sir, sensors are showing multiple Klingon lifesigns on the surface. The monk may be in danger. I recommend that we send an away team down immediately," T'Vrell added. Lyzara nodded and said:
"Elisa, Njahla, T'Vrell and M'Rew, you're with me. Thel, get those shields back up. Ensign Potter, you have the bridge." Everyone had a job to do and the away team took the turbolift into the transporter room.
They beamed down in an opening near the monastery that was just up the hill. All around them were ferns, trees and wild flowers.
"Captain, we need to secure the area and then make our way toward the monastery, which is located at the top of that hill," Njahla said, "I'm reading multiple Klingon patrols between us and the main building, sir. Recommend we proceed with caution."
"Acknowledged," Lyzara said and they took out their weapons. The away team continued on the road. They soon reached a small garden. The fence gate was open and they walked onwards. Soon they noticed the first Klingon patrol in the area. Lyzara signaled the team to take cover behind some bushes and they opened fire on the warriors. Several of them were killed before they could realize what was happening, but the remaining returned fire. Suddenly Njahla yelled:
"Grenade!" and they were forced to abandon their cover as the team quickly rolled away from the explosion.
"Shields down!" M'Rew said and rolled behind a bush to avoid detection. The Klingons were now shooting at the officers out in the open and the team had to constantly keep moving to avoid their shots. Personal shields absorbed most of the damage and the Starfleet officers were getting the upper hand in the firefight. The Klingons seemed to realize that and pulled out their bat'leths to attack the away team. While Elisa was concentrating her fire on one of the warriors, another came in behind her and slashed with his weapon. Luckily Elisa moved herself and the hit didn't kill her, but it tore a wide wound into her right shoulder. Before the Klingon had a chance to hit again, Njahla killed him with a direct shot into his head. As the patrol was defeated, Elisa laid on the ground, sobbing.
"Elisa?" Lyzara asked, seeming very worried, "Transporter room, beam Commander Flores to the sickbay," she said into the comm and Elisa was immediately dematerialized.
"She will be alright," T'Vrell said and Lyzara nodded as the four of them – including M'Rew who had got his shields working again – continued towards the monastery.
They soon reached the stairs leading to the hilltop without encountering any other patrols and continued up the stairs. Suddenly, Njahla put her hand on the Captain's shoulder and pointed at a Klingon sniper above. Lyzara gestured to take cover and Njahla hid behind a larger stone, where she had a good shot at the sniper. Lyzara nodded at her to take it and the Klingon fell down from the cliff where he was standing. They looked around for other foes, but saw none so they left their cover to keep going up the stairs.
As they reached the end of the staircase, they noticed several warriors pointing their disruptors at the Vulcan monks. The warriors stood with their backs towards the away team and the officers attacked them from behind. This time the Klingons didn't stand a chance. The monks nodded in thankfulness and the away team proceeded to the abbey leading to the main building. They reached it without any other incidents. The team walked up the main staircase and several Klingons beamed in. M'Rew grabbed a grenade from his satchel and threw it right at the Klingons, knocking them down.
"The area is secure, Captain," T'Vrell said, "We are receiving an alert from Vulcan. T'Pela says she must speak to you immediately. I'll patch her through to your tricorder."
"Captain Dalis, I have terrible news. Vulcan security forces have discovered the body of Ambassador Sokketh. They have determined that he was killed by a phaser blast at short range. His remains were discovered in a stasis chamber hidden in a cavern beneath the ambassador's residence. The ambassador on your ship, the one I have been working for is an imposter!" she said.
"Captain, I dispatched security teams to Ambassador Sokketh's quarters, but he's gone! We're searching the ship, but…," Elisa said through the comm, "Sir, I've just detected an unauthorized use of the transporters!"
"The Vulcan government is requesting that the imposter Sokketh be detained and returned to Vulcan for questioning. Whoever used the transporter erased the logs, but it is highly probable that he is on the planet's surface," T'Vrell stated. As soon as she could finish her sentence, the Ambassador materialized right in front of them.
"Such emotion on your face! I see now my deception has been exposed. Pity. Capturing the abbot so we could replace him as well would have been beneficial..., but we are strong. We will prevail. You are weak. And the weak shall perish!" he said and with his last words transformed into a tripedal creature – an Undine –, that had two long clawed hands. Its skin was grayish colored and its bones could be seen right through it. The creature's head was like a bugs and it looked like it had just stepped out of a horror movie. M'Rew quickly launched a grenade at it that didn't seem to do any real damage. They constantly fired their weapons at the creature, but with a few quick steps the Undine was right at Njahla, grabbed her by the throat and initiated some kind of telepathic connection between them making her scream out in pain. Suddenly, the creature let go of her and Njahla fell on the ground, unable to rise.
"Keep your distance!" M'Rew yelled as the creature was quickly moving towards the other officers. M'Rew threw another grenade at it and the explosion made the creature slightly lose its balance. Then, for a moment it stopped and didn't seem to mind the phasers that were firing at it as it took the form of a Klingon captain.
"Bothersome creatures. Why should I trouble myself with such insignificant beings, when the Klingons will do my work for me?" he said and went down to the valley towards some warriors that had beamed down on one of the stone terraces.
"Warriors, prepare for battle! Kill the Starfleet petaQ! One of them is the foul shapeshfter, I'm returning to the ship." The Klingon warriors closed in on the three standing Starfleet officers and opened fire. The away team took cover behind some Vulcan pillars around the abbey and M'Rew threw a grenade at the Klingons. Most of the warriors were injured by the grenade and didn't pose a threat. The remaining ones also fell with several phaser wounds in their chest.
"Captain, I am picking up residual traces of transporter activity in the vicinity. I believe that the Undine may have beamed to a hidden ship in orbit," T'Vrell informed after scanning the area. "I recommend we return to the Altair and find the Undine ship."
"Away team to the Altair. Four to beam up. Beam Lieutenant Syhr into the sickbay," Lyzara ordered through the comm.
"Captain, the Undine ship is on an intercept course!" Elisa said when they reached the bridge. Her hand was bandaged and traces of blood could be seen on it. Lyzara decided to order her to go to the Sickbay after this was over, but for the moment she had much bigger concerns.
"Sir, the Altair doesn't have the armaments to handle an undine attack. Starfleet reports that it is sending ships to assist us, but until they arrive, we are on our own," T'Vrell reported.
"Thel, what's the condition of our shields?" Lyzara asked the chief engineer.
"We could get the fore shield back online and I'm diverting all available power to the shields and hull, but even then we might not last long," he answered.
"We just have to hope the reinforcements arrive in time," Lyzara said.
"Captain, the Undine dreadnought is entering firing range," M'Rew announced, "Its firing weapons."
"Turn our port shield towards it and return fire," Lyzara ordered.
The Altair was completely dwarfed next to the huge Undine ship. It fired a full array of antiproton weapons against the smaller Starfleet ship and brought her shields down to fifty percent with just one hit. As the power was quickly diverted to the port shields, they dwindled under the next hit, but remained in place. The Altair fired a full spread of photon torpedoes at the dreadnought, but they barely scratched its shields. The dreadnought answered to the volley of torpedoes by sending out is own. Several Undine torpedoes were moving quickly toward the Altair and clashed with her shields, completely disabling the port shield and burning through her hull. The Starfleet vessel engaged evasive maneuvers to turn its still operational starboard shield towards the Undine ship, but the dreadnought followed and concentrated its fire on the Altair's aft shield. The Starfleet vessel transferred all its emergency power to the shields and kept remodulating its shield frequencies to decrease the damage to the shields. However, it didn't have much use as another volley of torpedoes tore down the aft shield and clashed against the ship's hull. Just when the Altair's hull integrity was nearing twenty percent, several Starfleet vessels warped in and opened focused fire on the Undine ship. Altair quickly broke combat to avoid any other hits and let the Starfleet ships take over. The focused fire of the ships' phaser arrays had devastating effect on the dreadnought's shields and hull. It was quickly losing its integrity and with the next volley of torpedoes, the Undine ship was destroyed. Everyone on the Altair could finally breathe.
"Incoming message from the U.S.S. Kirk, sir," T'vrell said.
"Put it onscreen."
"This is captain Thelin of the U.S.S. Kirk. Glad to see we made it here in time to lend you a hand, Captain Dalis. Perhaps someday you will return the favor. Thelin out."
"We have recovered the final data transmissions from the Undine vessel as well as samples of the organic material that was used to create the ship. We need to get this back to Starfleet Intelligence. They may be able to decrypt the messages and tell us more," T'Vrell informed.
"First things first," Thel interrupted, "I think we should return to Earth Spacedock for repairs." Lyzara nodded.
"Potter, set course for the Earth Spacedock. Warp 2, nice and easy," she said and leaned back on her chair.
"The ambassador was an Undine? I'm afraid their infiltration of the Federation goes much deeper than we realized. Who knows what kind of havoc they could create?" Admiral Quinn said sounding very worried. "Thank you for your report, Captain. Dismissed." Lyzara saluted and left his office on Earth Spacedock. She was just about to return to her ship when she remembered what M'Rew had said about relaxing and instead made her way into the Club 47. As she entered the club, loud music hit her like a wall and she almost considered turning around. But she was given no chance to do that as Elisa had noticed her and said: "Captain! Please do join us!" She was still wearing a bandage, but it had been replaced with a clean one.
"Shouldn't you be in the sickbay?" Lyzara asked.
"Nope. All the injured were transferred to the spacedock's sickbay and I was deemed well enough to walk around. Although Njahla is in there under intensive care and supervision. But come on, I know a quiet corner where to sit down."
"Quiet? In here?" Lyzara doubted, but still followed her. They went around the bar corner toward a table a bit more isolated from the others, where T'Vrell and M'Rew were already waiting for them.
"Hello, Captain!" M'Rew said as soon as he noticed them, "I was wondering if you'd come." Lyzara smiled and sat down beside them.
"So, this is your secret meeting place on ESD?" she asked.
"We have never deemed it secret," T'Vrell answered and took a sip of her drink – which most definitely didn't have anything to do with alcohol –. Lyzara noticed on the table a half-empty bottle of synthehol and a few unused glasses, so she beckoned M'Rew to fill one for her.
"Sir, really," a female voice said behind her. She turned to look who it was.
"Dgigerxox, join us," Lyzara said.
"You don't have to ask me twice," she said and pulled a chair from the nearest table. When she sat down, Lyzara noticed that she looked very tired and M'Rew poured her a drink.
"So, Captain," Dgirexox continued, "since when are you visiting clubs? From what I heard you don't do that."
"Since now, apparently," Lyzara answered and took a large sip from her glass. "Were you in the sickbay?"
"Yes, we transferred the wounded of the Altair and I was tending to Njahla."
"How is she?" M'Rew asked.
"She regained her consciousness, but they are keeping her in the intensive. Thel is by her right now," Dgirexox said, "Whatever that Undine did to her, it completely overloaded her neural net and she'll need time to recover." Everybody remained quiet for a while and the same thought went through their minds – it had been a close call.
"How's the Altair?" M'Rew asked to break the silence.
"The Altair will have to stay in dock for at least a week. The damage to the ship is quite extensive," T'Vrell answered him.
"Besides, the Starfleet Intelligence will need some time to crack the coded messages we recovered," Lyzara added.
"True that," Elisa said and they all took a sip of their drinks.